Maldives’ ex-president Gayoom’s health deteriorates

A group of doctors who had visited him in a jail have advised for the former president to be taken to Male for a check-up. However, the Maldives Correctional Department is denying him the permission for the same on the orders of President Abdulla Yameen.

Thayyib Ibu Faisal of Amnesty International’s Prisoner of Conscience recently tweeted, “Attn: 83 years old Former President Maumoon is very sick and Doctors have recommended to take him to Maale for further treatment. Maldives Correctional Service denying this on YAG’s order. If this is not tyranny, what else is?”

In June, a court in Maldives convicted former president Gayoom and sentenced him to 19 months in prison.
The trials were widely seen as a part of a plan by President Yameen to tighten his grip on power ahead of elections in September in which he seeks a second five-year term.

Dunya Maumoon former foreign minister and daughter of president Gayoom said in her tweet, “Saddened to hear my father is not well today. Another Eid passes…Miss you! #fatherofthenation #EidalAdha2018”

Known as a popular tourist destination, Maldives has seen political unrest since its first democratically elected leader, Mohamed Nasheed, was forced to quit amid a police mutiny in 2012.

Nasheed, who now lives in exile, was convicted of terrorism charges in 2015 and sentenced to 13 years after a trial criticized as unfair.